Gonzalez wins AL MVP for second time in three seasonsBy Ronald Blum
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Juan Gonzalez was voted the American
League's Most Valuable Player today, overwhelmingly defeating
Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Jeter to win the award for the
second time in three seasons.

Gonzalez, who had the most RBIs in the AL in 49 years and
led Texas to its second AL West title in three seasons,
received 21 first-place votes and seven seconds for 357 points
in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of
America.

"This is a great moment for everybody, for the whole team
and the organization," Gonzalez said in a conference call from
Puerto Rico.

Gonzalez hit .318 with 45 homers and 157 RBIs, the most in
the AL since Ted Williams and Vern Stephens each had 159 for
Boston in 1949.

"He's a great, great hitter," McGwire said. "But you know,
the sad thing, if somebody said, 'Who was the 1996 MVP in the
American League?' I bet you nobody really knows - Juan
Gonzalez. Every year, year in, year out, he just puts up the
numbers. It just seems like he doesn't get the notoriety he
should."

Gonzalez had 101 RBIs at the All-Star break, becoming only
the second player to top the century mark going into the
All-Star game (Hank Greenberg had 103 in 1935).

By the final week of July, he had 116 RBIs in 105 games,
bringing up talk he could challenge the record of 190, set by
Hack Wilson in 1930.

"It's not impossible," Gonzalez said then. "I just need to
stay healthy and keep working hard."

But then he was slowed by hamstring problems, and the
chance to reach that record disappeared.

Garciaparra, a unanimous choice as the 1997 AL Rookie of
the Year, hit .323 with 35 homers and 122 RBIs. Jeter, a
unanimous pick as the 1996 AL Rookie of the Year, batted .324
with 19 homers and 84 RBIs, providing solid and sometimes
spectacular play at shortstop from start to finish.